What do we think?
Is the character of Polly from Fawlty Towers supposed to be American or British?
Personally, it never occurred to me until recently to assume that she was anything other than American.
But lots of people feel differently apparently....
I always assumed she was American.
American - def.
I know she was born in American, but her accent in Fawlty Towers sounded English to me.
Quote: Firkin @ 8th May 2019, 7:44 AMI know she was born in American, but her accent in Fawlty Towers sounded English to me.
She was born in Indiana, which sort of borders on the New England states, which generally does have a "quieter" American accent.
Loyd Grossman is similar and he comes from Massachusetts.
Depends how long she has lived in the UK - I well remember just before my Dad was demobbed from the RAF, his last base was Mildenhall, which was 50/50 RAF & USAF and when we came back home to civvy street all the kids thought I was American as I had picked up an American accent without realising it.
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 8th May 2019, 9:36 AMShe was born in Indiana, which sort of borders on the New England states, which generally does have a "quieter" American accent.
No American would ever consider Indiana to be even "sort of" bordering New England. It's considered to be a part of the Midwest.
I lived there for several years and British people have often remarked that I have no discernible accent.
Quote: DaButt @ 8th May 2019, 11:41 AMNo American would ever consider Indiana to be even "sort of" bordering New England.
Ah, but you see, I'm not American and it's on the right half of The States, which is near enough for me. 
The question is about Polly Sherman's nationality but some of the replies refer to Connie Booth's.
Connie Booth was born in the USA but surely it cannot follow that Polly therefore was born in the USA - given that she's a fictional character and her place of birth is never mentioned in "Fawlty Towers"?
If somebody posted a question asking about the nationality of the man who was at odds with Basil over the ordering of a Waldorf salad, I think everybody would say he was American - and they would be absolutely correct. The character who argues with Basil over the Waldorf salad is an American from California but the actor portraying that character was a Canadian from Calgary, Alberta.
We simply don't know Polly's nationality.
She sang I'm just a girl who caint say no from the musical Oklahoma.
To keep Mr Twitcher entertained while Basil thrashed his car.
It's true, the posts about Connie Booth's nationality are a bit beside the point as Rood Eye says. She is not the character, even though she was speaking with her own slightly diluted US accent.
That said, I'm sure the creators (Cleese and Booth herself) must have had a view on her nationality when they wrote it.
So there must be an answer.
If you listen to Connie Booth speaking in her normal voice, she has an unmistakable American accent.
When Polly Sherman speaks, she sounds English to me.
No matter how English (or non-English) other BCG members may find Polly's accent, it can hardly be disputed that it's very significantly more English than Connie Booth's accent and I can, accordingly, assume only that the reason for the change is that it was Connie's best attempt at an English accent and therefore that Polly is English.
In the Wedding Party Sybil tells Basil one of the guests is an old school friend of Polly and they are British so I think she is portrayed as British and trying to disguise her American twang which she did well.
I'd never thought of Polly as American before this thread.
Given his reactions to the American guest, and treatment of Manuel, it is frankly impossible to believe that Basil wouldn't have been making constant references - if not actual jibes - to Polly about her nationality were she supposed to be from the wrong side of the pond.
Quote: Chris Hallam @ 8th May 2019, 6:21 AMWhat do we think?
Is the character of Polly from Fawlty Towers supposed to be American or British?
Personally, it never occurred to me until recently to assume that she was anything other than American.
But lots of people feel differently apparently....
I have to agree, when it first aired I clearly thought she was an American who must have come to England to work when she was younger. It is a very noticeable American twang however anglicised it is, you're not going to talk like that if you hadn't lived in the US.
I think I'm right in believing she was self conscious of this and wrote the back story of her having travelled a lot and being good at languages to help explain it. A sort of international accent that often has this American lilty twang. Not that it mattered one bit, great character great performance.
Quote: Aaron @ 8th May 2019, 10:57 PMI'd never thought of Polly as American before this thread.
Given his reactions to the American guest, and treatment of Manuel, it is frankly impossible to believe that Basil wouldn't have been making constant references - if not actual jibes - to Polly about her nationality were she supposed to be from the wrong side of the pond.
Again very sketchy memory but I'm pretty sure Basil makes a reference to it in one ep, I believe it was meant as an injoke like are you sure you're not an American or something in that vain because yes she was supposed to be English. No idea of the episode it's in.
Now I'm not sure if that was in a DVD commentary he did rather than an ep. I know they joked about her accent being noticed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Sherman
She is obviously English. She did English things with English people. * How many roller discos did she go to?
* or Spanish.
She even made dresses from the patterns.
